Choosing your Braille Embosser

by Anne
Taylor

Anne Taylor

From the Editor: Anne Taylor is a Computer Specialist who works in the NFB's
International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind. Every so often the
technology staff conducts a comparison of various kinds of access equipment
in order to assist those considering purchasing such equipment. This time the
equipment is Braille embossers. This is what Mrs. Taylor has to say:

It is safe to say that the Braille embossers (thirty-one of them) we display
in the NFB's International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind (IBTC)
are the most numerous and expensive access technology equipment we have in
this comprehensive facility. As we all know, there is no such thing as a free
lunch, especially in the access-technology market. The embosser prices range
from $1,695 to $86,000 among thirty-one models (twenty-seven of which are currently
used widely around the world). Many visitors come to us asking which embosser
they should purchase. This article discusses the factors to be considered in
making a wise decision. Our assessments of the various producers follow. At
the end you will find a chart comparing embossing speeds.

Begin your search by making a wish list for an embosser, jotting down your
actual needs:

* What is the volume of Braille you are going to produce, and how frequently
are you going to use the embosser? The slowest embosser prints at approximately
ten characters per second (CPS); the fastest embosser prints at approximately
800 CPS, and generally faster means more expensive. Why pay thousands of additional
dollars for an embosser that can print at a higher speed than you need?

* Embossing Braille is a very active mechanical process which often creates
a lot of noise. Is the noise going to be a problem in the environment in which
the embosser will operate? Will you need to buy a soundproof case too?

* How will this embosser be used? Bearing in mind that embossers weigh from
twelve to more than three hundred pounds, how often will you need to move it
between home and school or back and forth to an office? Should it be portable
or stationary, come with its own sturdy carrying case, or need no more than
a dust cover?

* Who will be reading the Braille material? If he or she is a fluent Braille
reader, the quality of the Braille produced is crucial. The embosser must produce
dots of a height that will be easy to read. Some do this better than others.
To save expense on costly Braille paper, many prefer embossers that produce
interpoint Braille (Braille on both sides of the page). Because it is difficult
for sighted teachers or transcribers to sight-read interpoint Braille, you
may decide the best embosser is one that can print both single-sided and interpoint
Braille.

* How hard is it to get a customer service representative on the phone? How
difficult is it to obtain parts or the services of a repairman if your expensive
machine breaks down? Keep in mind that the larger embossers need periodic preventive
maintenance from a trained technician, and many popular, large-capacity Braille
embossers are not manufactured in this country. What is the company's track
record for customer service?

* How fast is it really? To go beyond the facts published by one individual
company, where can you get an unbiased comparison of all the embossers that
interest you? Yes, right here in this article from the International Braille
and Technology Center for the Blind.

Let's talk a bit about the suppliers of Braille embossers and mention some
factors which distinguish their embossers from the competition. Enabling Technologies
Company, of Jensen Beach, Florida, is the most widely known supplier of Braille
embossers sold in the United States. Having been in business for about fifteen
years, this company sells embossers ranging in price from $2,195 to $33,000.
However, the most widely sold are in two series: the Romeos and the Juliets.
In our experience these embossers have a strong track record for reliability.
Another good point is that all of their embossers have very similar configuration
menus. Once you've learned to operate one of their embossers, you are likely
to learn very quickly how to run any of their other embossers.

On the other hand, Enabling Technologies' embossers are probably more suitable
for tech-savvy users. The biggest problem is that the embosser configuration
menus are governed by entering sequences of numbers on a telephone-like keypad.
This system requires the user either to have an excellent memory or to have
the user's manual handy at all times. As for turn-around time on customer service,
no expert in the Enabling technical support department will take calls directly
to deal with an immediate problem. Instead callers are instructed to leave
a message on the company's voicemail. We can report that the technical support
staff has been prompt in returning calls.

Sighted Electronics, in Westwood, New Jersey, is rapidly gaining a bigger share
of the embosser market. A major importer of Braille embossers from Europe,
its product lines include the Thiel Braille embossers from Germany and Index
Braille embossers from Sweden. Both brands are widely used here and in Europe.
We found that some Index embossers can occasionally be temperamental, especially
the Index Everest and Index 4x4 Pro, both of which tend to jam when the print
job is lengthy. However, this line of embossers has spoken menus, which are
easy to follow, and the embossers have buttons labeled in both print and Braille.
Because of this, users can configure the embosser quickly. Only two Thiel embossers,
the Impacto and the Porta-Thiel, are sold in this country. Neither is prone
to breakdowns. We appreciate the fact that, when one calls the Sighted Electronics
technical support department, usually a live human being answers the phone.

Freedom Scientific, Blind/Low Vision Group, of St. Petersburg, Florida, sells
the Braille Blazer, the Braille Inferno, and the VersaPoint Duo. This last
is made by Enabling Technologies Company, therefore its shape, size, and reliability
are similar to those of Enabling's other embossers. Both the Braille Blazer
and the Braille Inferno are lightweight embossers equipped with a spoken menu
and are not suitable for large Braille-production jobs. As with any other big
company's technical support line today, customers have to get through the telephone
menu and may be on hold for a while before the call is answered. Also the voice
menu often directs callers to a different, toll phone number for specific-product
technical support. Patient customers do get the help they need.

American Thermoform Corporation of La Verne, California, imports Braillo embossers
from Norway. Agencies producing Braille books or magazines often buy a Braillo
because it has a well-deserved reputation for trouble-free bulk production.
However, if you have a breakdown or it's time to replace a part, start hoping
that the part is in stock in California because you will wait at least a week
to get back in production if the replacement part must come through customs
from Norway. Additionally, a blind user cannot operate the Braillo independently
since it has no voice output, only menu options shown on the LCD screen. American
Thermoform does have a toll-free number and is good at giving directions over
the phone for repairs that can be done in-house.

N. V. Interpoint is located in Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium, and manufactures one
of the fastest Braille embossers today, the Interpoint 55. According to the
manufacturer, it can emboss at the rate of 800 CPS. The NFB uses this machine
every year to produce the menus and other documents used at our National Convention,
and it is the IBTC staff's machine of choice whenever we have a large job to
Braille. It embosses interpoint Braille, then cuts magazine-format sheets (two
or four pages per sheet) from the roll. As the embosser prints, it generates
lines on the sheets to pre-score the finished pages for binding or stapling.
With simple manipulation of the menu parameters in the Print 55 software, the
user can choose to emboss either single-sided or interpoint Braille on individually-cut
pages.

Both costly and versatile, this embosser has proven to be quite reliable (which
is a good thing because the only trained repairman, the company owner and product's
inventor, is in Belgium and best contacted by e-mail or faxed message). We
admire engineering professor Guido Francois, the inventor, for his dedication
to his craft. He will do his best to get your machine up and running again.
Additional points, possibly drawbacks, are that users cannot program the Interpoint
55 to print directly from Duxbury; it won't run without software for the printer
(the Print 55), which is DOS-based. While the embosser is running, the user
must make sure that the paper starts feeding perfectly and continue watching
to restore order should pages flip over during the printing process; the huge
roll of paper is very heavy and very difficult to load. Only a strong person
can load the roll into its cradle while making the necessary connections.

HumanWare, Incorporated, of Loomis, California, is a supplier for the Paragon
embosser, which is often described as a more expensive clone of the Thomas,
sold by Enabling Technologies. Thus far, we have not had occasion to call technical
support for this embosser. However, company technical support has been helpful
whenever we have called the toll-free number about other products HumanWare
carries.

ViewPlus Technologies, based in Corvallis, Oregon, focuses on Braille graphics.
It is the inventor and supplier of the Tiger Advantage, an embosser which produces
tactile graphs, charts, maps, pictures, and so on at twenty dots per inch on
tractor-feed Braille paper. Because the Tiger Advantage embosser comes equipped
with printer-driver software that interfaces with Windows, the user may print
directly to the embosser from any application. Tiger Advantage also has its
own translation software; it will not print directly from Duxbury. Because
its small buffer would not be suitable for holding more than about fifty Braille
pages of text at a time, it is more suitable for graphics than for text. The
Tiger Advantage is one of the quietest printers available, and the Braille
quality is up to an acceptable standard if the punch-force level is set to
seven or greater. ViewPlus Technologies has a knowledgeable and friendly technical
support department.

IBTC Testing Procedure

We used the same test file first used by David Andrews, past director of the
IBTC, for his study, "How Fast Is It Really?" published in
the November 1996 Braille Monitor. Since then several newer embossers
have been added, and some, which can no longer be purchased, have been removed.
Our new data below will show any differences between our results and those
currently published by the manufacturers. Manufacturers produce test results
based on uniform lines of Braille across a page (commonly all words of equal
length and all lines of equal length). In contrast, our testing procedure mimicked
a real-life printing job. We believe that our results are better indicators
of the true capacity of the embossers we tested.

The test file was translated into Grade II Braille. To simulate a real-life
print job, we made sure to use a test file containing various formats, such
as straight text, centered and right-justified lines, regular and hanging paragraphs,
two columns, lines of dots, table-of-contents guide dots, Braille and print
page numbering, full and partially blank pages, and more.

We also used standard embosser setup parameters that have been widely adopted
by Braille producers throughout this country. For the embossers that can handle
11.5-by-11-inch paper and can print up to forty-four characters per line on
twenty-seven lines per page, we programmed the embossers to print forty characters
per line on twenty-five lines per page. However, not all embossers can accommodate
that wide a page. For embossers that can handle only 8.5-by-11-inch paper and
print up to thirty-four characters per line, we programmed the embossers to
print thirty-two characters per line on twenty-five lines per page. For each
embosser the timer started at the same instant as the enter key was pressed.
The timer was stopped promptly when each embosser ceased embossing.

Reading the Chart

Now we can get to the heart of the matter. The test results are alphabetical
by name of embosser. Data are separated by semicolons and listed in this order:
name of embosser, manufacturer's rated speed, IBTC's rated speed (both figures
given in characters per second, CPS), percent of variance, and price of the
embosser. The percent of variance was found by calculating the difference between
an IBTC test score and a manufacture's stated claim. For example, in the first
case the variance is 47 percent, which means that our test showed this embosser
was 47 percent slower than the manufacturer said it would be. (In our view
a variance of plus or minus 5 percent is insignificant.)

* Note 1: Due
to repair and maintenance needs, we were not able to test three embossers before
the deadline for this article. The test results for Interpoint 55, Braillo
400SR, and ET Braille Printer, will be provided upon request.

Conclusion

In all but one case our results varied from those of the manufacturer. We encourage
customers to use our results as supplemental data to assist in the purchase
of a Braille embosser. However, always look at the big picture, not just price
and speed, to decide on your best choice of embosser. In addition to what we
have mentioned, consider the quality of Braille produced, the ease of use,
the clarity of the manual, the reputation of the manufacturer and dealer, and
the reliability of product or technical support and customer service. This
should help you to ensure that your chosen embosser is right for you. The staff
of the International Braille and Technology Center will be happy to help you
as you consider your options. We prefer contacts by e-mail to <nfb@nfb.org>,
or by telephone to the technology access line, (410) 659-9314, option 5, on
business days, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.